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MINOR PROJECT REPORT ON

Analysis On Marketing Strategies of Coca Cola

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR THE AWARD OF

THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF COMMERCE 2022-23

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

Dr. Divisha Gupta

Associate Professor, MAIMS

SUBMITTED BY:

Raghav Khemka

Roll No.-07114788822

. BCOM (H) SEM 2 Section B

MAHARAJA AGRASEN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

Affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi PSP Area, Plot No. 1,
Sector 22, Rohini Delhi 110086

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

S.No. TOPIC PAGE NO.

1 Chapter-I: Introduction

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Objective of study

1.3 Company Profile

1.4 Industry Profile

2 Chapter-II: Review of Literature
3 Chapter-III: Research Methlodology
4 Chapter-IV: Analysis & Interpretation of Data
5 Chapter- V: Conclusion, Recommendations and

Suggestions

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CHAPTER-I
INTRODUCTION

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INTRODUCTION
This project is focused on studying the various marketing strategies of Coca-Cola and the
scenario of Indian soft drink industry in the 1990’s. Coca-Cola Co., the global soft drink industry
leader controlled Indian soft drink industry till 1977. Then Janta Party beats the Congress Party
and the Central Government was changed. This change brought problems for Coca-Cola
principle bottler, who was a big supporter of Gandhi Family. Now Janta Party government
demanded that Coca-Cola should transfer its syrup formula to an India subsidiary (Chakravarty,
43). Because of this Coca-Cola backed and withdrew from the country. In the meantime, India’s
two target soft drink producers have gotten rich. Who were controlling 80% of the Indian soft
drink industry?

In 1993, the coco-Cola company came back to India. But the scenario of Indian soft drink
industry had been changed from 1977 to 1993. The competition in the soft drink industry had
become very tough. The major competitors at that time were Pepsi and Parle. Parle’s best known
brand includes ThumsUp, Limca, Citra and others were Gold Spot and Maaza. At that time Parle
had a market share of 53% and Pepsi had a market share of 20%.Now Coca-Cola had to make
some strategies to survive in this tough competition. For this Coca-Cola decided to take over
Parle, so that the company can take the advantage of Parle’s network. This decision was proved
very beneficial for Coke as it had ready access to over 2,00,000 retailer outlets and 60 bottlers of
Parle’s network.

The marketing strategies which were made by Coca-Cola Company to win the Cola war in 1990s
had been very successful as Coca-Cola Company had a total market share of 48.3% in 1998. So
the Indian soft drink industry saw a dramatic change in the decade of 1990s. All the companies
were trying to win the battle by making good marketing strategies. These days Coke and Pepsi
are using the 4Ps of marketing mix (Price, Product, Place and Promotion) in such a way so that a
good quality can be provided to the consumers at a reasonable price to attract the consumers
towards their brands. Both the companies know that there is so much potential in the Indian soft
drink industry and the can increase their sales by making good marketing strategies. So, they are

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spending a huge amount of money on advertising and other sales promotional activities of their
brands.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To study the marketing strategies adopted by Coca-Cola

2. To study the advertising effectiveness Coca-Cola on customer

3. To analyze the awareness of consumer regarding Coca Cola.

4. To help the company for further changes in the quality, pricing, and policies.

5. This study was aimed at Market analysis of Coca Cola and find out different factor effects the
growth of Coca Cola

6. To understand the reason behind the purchase of Coca Cola product

7. Another objectives of study was to perform Competitive analysis between Coca Coal and its
competitors.

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COMPANY PROFILE

HISTORY
Coca-Cola Enterprises, established in 1886, is a young company by the standards of the Coca-
Cola system. Yet each of its franchises has a strong heritage in the traditions of Coca-Cola that is
the foundation for this Company. The Coca-Cola Company traces it’s beginning to 1886, when
an Atlanta pharmacist, Dr. John Pemberton, began to produce Coca-Cola syrup for sale in
fountain drinks. However the bottling business began in 1899 when two Chattanooga
businessmen, Benjamin F. Thomas and Joseph B. Whitehead, secured the exclusive rights to
bottle and sell Coca-Cola for most of the United States from The Coca-Cola Company. The
Coca-Cola bottling system continued to operate as independent, local businesses until the early
1980s when bottling franchises began to consolidate. In 1986, The Coca-Cola Company merged
some of its company-owned operations with two large ownership groups that were for sale, the
John T. Lupton franchises and BCI Holding Corporation's bottling holdings, to form Coca-Cola
Enterprises Inc. The Company offered its stock to the public on November 21, 1986, at a split-
adjusted price of $5.50 a share. On an annual basis, total unit case sales were 880,000 in 1986.

In December 1991, a merger between Coca-Cola Enterprises and the Johnston Coca-Cola
Bottling Group, Inc. (Johnston) created a larger, stronger Company, again helping accelerate
bottler consolidation. Unit case sales had climbed to 1.4 billion, and total revenues were $5
billion.

The Coca-Cola Company is the world’s largest beverage company. They operate in more than
200 countries & markets more than 2800 beverage products.

The Coca-Cola Company is the global Soft drink industry leader, with world Headquarters in
Atlanta, Georgia. The company and its subsidiaries employ nearly 30,000 people around the
world Syrups, concentrates and beverages bases for Coca-Cola, the company’s flagship brand, &
over 160 other Company Soft Drink brands are manufactured and Sold by the Coca Cold
Company and its Subsidiaries in nearly 200 countries around the world. In fact approximately
70% of company volume and 80% of company profit come from outside the United States.

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By contract with the Coca-Cola Company on its local subsidiaries, local businesses are
authorized to bottle and sell company soft drinks within certain territorial boundaries and under
conditions that ensure the highest standards of quality and uniformity. The Coca-Cola takes pride
in being a worldwide business that is always local.

Bottling and distribution operations are, with some exception, locally owned and operated by
independent business people who are native to the nations in which they are located.

Headquartered at Atlanta, Georgia, they employ approximately90500.employees all over the

world. It is often referred to simply as Coke or (in European and American countries) as Cola or
Pop.

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Product Description
❖ COCA-COLA

Cola is the most popular and biggest-selling soft drink in history, The Coca-Cola Company,
American corporation founded in 1892 and today engaged primarily in the manufacture and sale
of syrup and concentrate for Coca-Cola, a sweetened carbonated beverage that is a cultural
institution in the United States and a global symbol of American tastes. The company also
produces and sells other soft drinks and citrus beverages. With more than 2,800 products
available in more than 200 countries, Coca-Cola is the largest beverage manufacturer and
distributor in the world and one of the largest corporations in the United States. Headquarters are
in Atlanta, Georgia.

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❖ SPRITE

Introduced in 1961, Sprite is the world's leading lemon-lime flavoured soft drink. Sprite
is sold in more than 190 countries and ranks as the No. 3 soft drink worldwide.

❖ FANTA

Introduced in 1940, Fanta is the second oldest brand of The Coca-Cola Company and
our Second largest brand outside the US. Fanta Orange is the leading flavour but almost
every Fruit grown is available as a Fanta flavour somewhere. Consumed more than 130
million times every day around the world, consumers love Fanta for its great, fruity taste.

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❖ DIET COKE

Diet Coke, also known as Coca-Cola light in some markets, is a sugar- and calori . It was
first introduced in the United States on August 9, 1982, as the first new brand since 1886
to use the Coca-Cola Trademark. Today, Diet Coke/Coca-Cola light is one of the largest
and most successful brands of The Coca-Cola Company, available in more than 150
markets around the world.

❖ FRESCA

With a unique citrus taste, Fresca is a caffeine-free soft drink fordiscriminating adults.
Fresca was introduced in the United States in 1966 as a calorie-free grapefruit-flavored
drink. Its bubbly, crisp, light taste provides a flavorful beverage to consumers who want
great citrus taste in a calorie-free soft drink. Fresca is sweetened with sugar in some
parts of the world.

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❖ MINUTE MAID

Minute Maid has been making juice for more than 60 years and has a heritage of
nutrition, innovation, and quality. In 1945, the U.S. Army ordered 500,000 pounds of
powdered orange juice from the Florida Foods Corporation, which later renames itself to
Vacuum Foods and then finally the Minute Maid Corporation. The Minute Maid
Corporation was acquired by The Coca-Cola Company in 1960, marking its first venture
outside of soft drinks.

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MARKETING MIX

WHAT IS A MARKETING MIX?

It is a set of controllable tactical marketing tools - product, price, place & promotion -
that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market.

THE FOUR PS OF THE MKT’S MIX

Fig. 1.
Effective marketing would be blending the marketing mix elements into a coordinated
programme designed to achieve the company’s marketing objective by delivering value
to consumers

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Cola - Cola has always worked upon their marketing mix tools since its entry into India
and Coke’s objective has been to strengthen their brand in important segments of the
market and to gain a competitive edge over Pepsi brands.

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MARKETING MIX OF COKE PRODUCT

Coke was launched in India in Agra, October 24, in '93', soon after its traditional all Indian
launch of its Cola. at the sparking new bottling plants at Hathra, near Agra. Coke was back with
a bang after its exit in 1977.

Coke was planning to launch in next summer the orange drink, Fanta-with the clear lemon drink,
sprite, following later in the year.

Coke already owns more brands than it will over need, since it has bought out Ramesh Chauhan.
Coke just needs to juggle these brands around dextrously to meet its objectives, to ensure that
Pepsi does not gain market share in the process.

For if a vacuum develops, it is Pepsi which has the brand muscle and the distribution network to
grab customers today-not Coke. But Coke could not reduce its marketing support for Thumps
Up until its own Cola would hit the four major metros (Delhi. Bombay, Calcutta and Madras)
Therefore, Coke had to give its existing levels of support for Parle's brands and would push
Thums Up and Limca. Coke has plans to' use quality and hygiene as USPs.

Their aim seems to be to expand market by market, learning from their mistakes.In, 1998 Coke's
product line includes Coca-Cola, Thums Up, Fanta, Gold Spot, Maaza, Citra, Sprite, Bisleri Club
Soda and Diet Coke.

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PACKAGING

Coca-Cola India Limited (CCIL) has bottled its Cola drink in different sizes and different
packaging i.e., 200 ml bottle, 300 ml. Bottle, 330 ml. Cans, 500 ml. Bottle fountain Pepsi, and
bottles of 1 and 1.5 ltr

PRODUCT POSITIONING

One important thing must be noticed that Thums Up is a strong brand in western and southern
India, while Coca Cola is strong in Northern and Eastern India. With volumes of Thums Up
being low in the capital, there are likely chances of Coca Cola slashing the prices of Thums Up
to Rs. 5 and continue to sell Coca Cola at the same rate. Analysts feel that this strategy may help
Coke since it has 2 Cola brands in comparison to Pepsi which has just one.

Thums Up accounts for 40% of Coca Cola company's turn over, followed by Coca Cola which
has a 23% share and Limca which accounts for 17% of the turnover of the company. (Thums up
being the local drink, its share in the market is intact, forcing the company to service the brand,
as it did last year

Mr. Donald short CEO, Coca Cola India, said that, " we will be absolutely comfortable if Thums
Up is No. 1 brand for us in India in the year 2005. We will sell whatever consumer wants us to".

Coca Cola India has positioned Thums up as a beverage associated with adventure because of its
strong taste and also making it compete with Pepsi as even Pepsi is associated with adventure,
youth.

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COKE IN INDIA

Coke gained an early advantage over Pepsi since it took over Parle in 1994. Thus it had ready
access to over 2,00,000 retailer outlets and 60 bottlers.

Thus Coke had greater than Pepsi because it had ready access to the Parle network. For example
in 1994 Pepsi had 20 bottlers to serve the entire country while Coke had Parle’s 60 bottlers. In
an important market like Delhi Pepsi had just one bottler while Coke had four. On the other
hand Pepsi had taken over the Dukes Mangola of Mumbai.

In 1993, Pepsi Foods Ltd. had control over the Rs. 1,100 - Crore Indian Soft Drinks market. At
that time, the soft drinks trycoon Ramesh Chauhan, was heading the Parle group and at that time
was deciding to explore the possibility of selling his best rolling brands to Coke, rather than to
Pepsi. Pepsi had entered the market 3 years before Coke did. Before the Coke-Parle tie-up in
'93- Ramesh Chauhan had 2 options before him-

(1) to stick around, fight it out again and hopefully, continue with his number one position

. (2) to sell out to Coca-Cola for a good return.

This risk of losing out to one of the multinationals, eventually, seemed to be throwing up the
second alternative. Ramesh Chauhan told business world (India's most popular business
magazine) that "it is better to seek a compromise than to fight a lone battle".

But he was wisely simultaneously taking steps to safeguard his market share. In a few months,
Parle's products will be launched in 250 ml instead the current 200 ml. The indications are that
the company will hold the price line. Incidentally, both Pepsi and Coke (if it finally gets in) will
cost more than local brands because of the 300% duly on the imported ingredients.

However, this scenario was taking place pre-liberalization period and hence implied a very high
duty on imported items.
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Entry of Pepsi and Coke in India or their proposals were at that time being opposed because of
the impact of first - strike on the minds of consumers. If Coca-Cola is allowed an easy and quick
entry through a window established by the government, there can be no justification for denying
similar access to Pepsi Co.

Basically what was wrong at that time with the Coke proposal was that while the Pepsi deal
could go through under the camouflage of horticultures and agriculture development as their
proposal stated, a pure soft drinks project was not so politically palatable (as it would greatly
hamper the indigenous industry).Coke had plans, to invest $ 20 million in India and Pepsi was
going to pump in Rs. 300 crore more. Ramesh Chauhan greatest compulsion, to 90 in for the
2nd option was that many of his biggest bottlers were preparing to desert him for Coke, .since
the bottlers accounted for nearly one-third of Parle's sales. Parle's biggest bottles in the Easter
region. Goenka, accounted for 80% market share in Calcutta, felt that the future lay with Coca-
Cola, no Indian company had the financial muscle to take on Coke.

Also, there was the most convincing factor for the tie-up, that Parle's Position in the Indian soft
drinks market and Coca-Cola's marketing strengths and experience would make an unbeatable
combination. At that time according to the world’s most popular and well known magazine,
Fortune, had rated Coke as the world's best brand. Even Coke would greatly benefit from the
tie- up, as Coke with Parle’s wide spread bottling and distribution network, which was spread
over more than a thousand towns and cities and the gradual withdraw of Parle brand would
ensure Coke would be the king. Parle's best known brands include Thums Up, Limca, Citra and
others were GOLD SPOT and Maaza.

The biggest advantage to Parle from the tie-up would be an instant gain of $ 40 million, which
could be used profitably in other ventures.

According to a report the deal was that, Parle Exports had transferred the rights of all its reputed
soft drinks brands to Coca-Cola company, USA. In short, Coca-Cola Company became the
exclusive owner of Thums Up, Limca, Gold Spot, Citra and Maaza and could therefore,
withdraw them from the market whenever it would want to.

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Under the agreement, the existing bottlers of Parle Exports would continue to produce Parle
brands under the licence from the Coca-Cola company. The U.S. Multinational proposed to
introduce its international brands -Coke, Fanta and Sprite at an appropriate time. The Parle
bottlers will be bottling these Coco - Cola brands also. The exact nature of Parle, Coca-Cola tie-
up is given below :

So, Ramesh Chauhan, sold his soft drink brands of the U.S. Multinatinal for ($ 40 million) and is
presently a major Coke bottler. Delhi – based Parle Chairman gave up his ownership of his soft
drinks brand (Thums Up, Limca, Citra and Gold Spot) and was awarded the bottling franchisee
for Delhi, Bombay, Surat and Ahmedabad. Coke depends on the 54 bottling plants which it was
inherited from the Parle by out.

So, logically all brands of Parle as well as Coca-Cola will be marketed together. The only
problem being that Parle bottlers would not be able to meet the peculiar quality requirements of
Coke.

Model of Brand Selection

 Customer buys on value

 Value equals quality relative to price

 Quality includes all non-price attributes that count in the purchase

decision

 Product

 Customer service

 Quality, price and value, are not absolute, but relative to competitors

Key Channel Listing

 Supermarkets

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 Convenience Stores

 Fast Food

 Petroleum Retailers

 Hotels/Motels/Resorts

PROMOTION STRATEGIES

GETTING SHELVES

They get or purchase shelves in big departmental stores and display their products in that shelves
in that style which show their product more clear and more attractive for the consumers.

EYE CATCHING POSITION

Salesman of the Coca Cola company positions their freezers and their products in eye-catching
positions. Normally they keep their freezers near the entrance of the stores.

SALE PROMOTION

Company also do sponsorships with different college and school’s cafes and sponsors their
sports events and other extra curriculum activities for getting market share.

UTC SCHEME

UTC mean under the crown scheme, Coca Cola often do this type of scheme and they offer very
handy prizes in it. Like once they offer bicycles, caps, tv sets, cash prizes etc. This scheme is
very much popular among children.

DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS

Coca Cola Company makes two types of selling

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a. Direct selling

b. Indirect selling

Direct Selling

In direct selling they supply their products in shops by using their own transports. They have
almost 450 vehicles to supply their bottles. In this type of selling company have more profit
margin.

Indirect Selling

They have their whole sellers and agencies to cover all area. Because it is very difficult for them
to cover all area of Pakistan by their own so they have so many whole sellers and agencies to
assure their customers for availability of Coca Cola products.

FACILITATING THE PRODUCT BY INFRASTRUCTURE

For providing their product in good manner company has provided infrastructure these includes:

 Vizi cooler

 Freezers

 Display racks

 Free empty bottles and shells for bottles

ADVERTISEMENT

Coca Cola Company use different mediums

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 Print media

 Pos material

 Tv commercial

PRINT MEDIA

They often use print media for advertisement. They have a separate department for print media.

POS Material

Pos material mean point of sale material this includes: posters and stickers display in the stores
and in different areas.

TV COMMERCIALS

As everybody know that TV is a most common entertaining medium so TV commercials is one

of the most attractive way of doing advertisement. So Coca Cola Company does regular TV
commercials on different channels.

BILLBOARDS AND HOLDINGS

Coca Cola is very much conscious about their billboards and holdings. They have so many sites
in different locations for their billboards.

INDUSTRY PROFILE

❖ Beverage Industry Overview

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The food processing industry in India has a total turnover of around USD 65 billion Which
includes value added products of around USD 20.6 billion? Coca cola, Pepsi, and Nestle are the
leading beverage brands that have been ruling the Indian beverage marketSince past few
decades. Among all the beverages, tea and coffee are manufactured as well As exported heavily
in the international markets succumbing to the individual demands around the world. The
beverage industry in India constitutes of around USD 230 million among the USD 65 billion
food processing industry. The major sectors in beverage Industries in India are tea and coffee
which are not only sold heavily in the domestic Market but are also exported to a range of
leading overseas markets. Half of the tea and Coffee products are available in unpacked or loose
form. Among the hot beverages Manufactured in India, tea is the most dominant beverage that is
ruling both the domestic And international market even today.The taste factor in tea varies
according to the taste of individuals in different countries And the beverage companies in India
manufacture the products in accordance with the Taste of the individuals.

For example, the inhabitants in the southern parts of India prefer Dust tea whereas the
inhabitants in the western part of India prefer loose tea. The Southern India also prefers coffee a
lot. The production capacity of the total packaged Coffee market is 19,600 tonnes which is
approximately a USD 87 million market. The Soft drink market such as carbonated beverages
and juices constitutes around USD Billion producing 284 million crates per year. In the peak
season, the consumption Capacity reaches 25 million creates per month and during off season the
same goes down To 15 million crates in a month. Pepsi and Coca cola are the two leading brands
in the Indian market. The mineral water market in India is a USD 50 million industry and
Produces 65 million crates. Around 4.9 million crates is usually consumed each month But it
rises to 5.2 million crates in the peak season.

COMPETITORS OF COCA COLA

COMPARING THE MARKETING STRATEGIES OF COKE WITH PEPSI

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Coca-Cola India and Pepsi India are locked in a bitter battle for market share. So far Pepsi has
won, outselling Coke 27.1% to 10.8% (All India Market Share) But Coke's new strategy adopted
in India which gives Thums Up the local brand it acquired in 1993-94 from Parle exports - top
marketing priority which would hurt Pepsi in the long run.

COKE'S STRATEGIC MOVE SINCE 1993

Four years after it entered the Rs. 1,800 crore Indian soft drinks market, Coca-Cola is finally
waking up to reality and duplicating the strategy of arch rival Pepsi. In these four years the
company has successfully managed to fritter away the 69 per cent market share of -the five Parle
brands -- Thums Up, Limca, Citra, Gold Spot and Maaza -- which it bought from the Chauhan
brothers. Wrong strategy : trying to push only its US brand, ignoring the Indian-acquired brands
and failing to strike a chord with Indian consumers by not using localised advertising campaigns
to guarantee them financial support though its bullying tactics on paying compensation have
drawn sharp criticism. It has finally started releasing locally-created ads, using Indian idiom
Donald Short, CEO of Coca Cola India. Mr. Short is trying to achieve what his predecessors,
Jaydev Raja and Richard P. Nicholas Ill, could not. His new mantra: do in India as Pepsi
does( as the famous saying at Coke Atlanta, do as the Atlantans do). Like Pepsi, Coke has
started sponsoring local events and staging frequent consumer promotion campaigns. It has
started picking up equity stakes in its bottlers to strike a chord with consumers. And finally it
has started pushing its strike a chord with consumers. And finally it has started pushing its
Indian brands -- led by Thums Up -instead of focusing on only its flagship. After years of eating,
sleeping and drinking movies, cricket and Coke, Coca-Cola is finally waking up to the strength
of the local brands that it took over from Ramesh Chauhan in 1994.

When Coca-Cola came to, India it had hoped to continue its legendary rivalry with Pepsi world-
wide and it was expected that the India would fade out. So Coca-Cola pushed its own brand.
But somebody forgot to narrate the same script to Indian consumers who insisted that they
wanted their thunder back. Coca-Cola has now reconciled to the fact that Thums Up and Limca
are the two most popular soft drink brands in India, especially in the western and southern
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regions.Keeping this in mind the company has lined up an aggressive marketing campaign to
push the two brands in the domestic market. Mr. Short's new strategy, Thums Up contributes 40
per cent of Coca-Cola India’s turnover while Limca accounts for another 17 per cent. Coke itself
accounts for 23 per cent. The balance comes from Coke's other brands, including Fanta. Citra
and Maaza. In terms of all-India market share. Thums Up has 16 per cent whereas Coke has
10.8 per cent. As much as 30 per cent to 35 per cent of Coca-Cola India’s expenditure in 1998
will be devoted to promoting Thums Up. Limca will command 15 per cent to 18 per cent,
marginally lower than the 20 per cent to 25 per cent which will be spent on promoting Coke.

Despite being a global brand, Pepsi has built its success on meeting the Indian consumer's needs,
particularly in terms of making the brand synchronize with localized events and traditions. By
offering free Pepsi with idli it tried to beat Thums Up and Coke in the south. In Calcutta, where
Coke always has a large hold, Pepsi linked itself with neighbourhood cricket tournaments. In
Delhi it associated itself with Holi and offered free colour sachets with Pepsi bottles.

Says Mr. Sinha, CEO of Pepsi : “We recruited local salesmen to sell our products since to sell
consumer products you need local experience.” That is why Pepsi's events such as the Spot the
Mirinda Man contest was such a huge success. By contrast, Coke deliberately chose to bring in
expatriates. Instead of trying to create a bond with customers with low impact activities it
resorted to high impact activities like sponsoring the World Cup and the Olympics 'in 1996. But
unfortunately none of these helped it to raise its customer base despite the high advertising
spend. In fact Pepsi benefited more by releasing the “Nothing Official About It” campaign
during the same period.

Coke's lack of freedom to take any decision independently of its Atlanta headquarters was also
one of the major reasons why it has not been as nimble-footed as Pepsi in evolving marketing
strategy in a rapidly changing industry.

Flexibility is the weapon which Coca-Cola has lacked since all controls are vested with Atlanta.
Coke's trade promotions have followed a predictable pattern, offering fat margins to retailers for

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a limited period of time -- without exploring alternatives that raise the level of involvement for
the seller as well as the consumer.

In sharp contrast, flexibility has always been one of the most important weapons in the hands of
Pepsi Company India. Every manager and salesperson has the authority to take whatever steps
he or she feels will make consumers aware of the brand and increase its consumption.

Says Mr. Sinha : “AII we do is give people a budget in which they have to work. How they go
about is completely up to them. We are performance oriented and look at only results, not at the
methods adopted to get those results.”

The biggest thorn in Coke's strategy has been its long and bitter battle with its bottlers. The
conflicts have finally settled down to a pattern that reflect its global experience. Coca-Cota India
is floating two subsidiaries, Bharat Coca-Cola and Hindustan Coca-Cola which will act as
holding companies for most of its bottling operations. Thus giving the transnational ownership
and control over this crucial part of its operations.

Earlier the company had made the mistake of demanding huge investments from its bottlers
without worrying about the returns, assuming that they would be willing to sustain losses as long
as Coca-Cola did. In the process, it alienated the former Parle franchisees, the Chauhans.

According to Mr. Chauhan there is a big difference between the kind of investments Coke has in
mind and the kind of investments made by him.

Coca-Cola is now in the process of buying out bottling plants located in Patna and Kanpur, to of
its important northern markets. Mr. Sinha reveals his relations with the bottlers by saying that
they are his partners and the management listens to them, which Coke last year failed to do.
Every member of Pepsi's sales team is meticulously taught the merchandising and display skills
that can leverage the reach of the company's bottling network to achieve high visibility for the
product. Thus Pepsi Company India has used its eight years in India to develop a relationship
with its bottlers that enables it to work in tandem with them. If Mr. Short can now adopt Pepsi's
method of transferring the transnational's expertise to its bottlers, his brands will benefit.

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Pricing is another factor in which Pepsi has always had the edge. Pepsi has consistently used its
pricing strategy as an invitation to sample, aiming to turn trial into addiction. It launched the
1996, its 1.5 liter bottle followed Coke into the market share at Rs. 30 -- Rs. 5 less than Coke's.
In both cases, Pepsi raised the price once consumption stabilized, counting on habit to
compensate for the price hike. Coke initially carbon-copied the strategy by introducing its
330ml. cans in January 1996 at an invitation price of Rs. 15 before raising it to Rs. 18. Mr. Short
is now using a lower-priced smaller-sized version the gain consumers. The 200 ml. Coke
launched (so far) inparts of eastern, western and northern India is priced at Rs. 6, lowering entry-

barriers.

According to officials, by launching Thums Up and Limca in a big way, Coke will gain lost
ground. The twin-brand strategy, will help Coke play the pricing game against its competitors.
In the west and east, where Thums Up has a dominant market share, the multinational will slash
the price of Coke which constitutes only a minor share in the overall volume. A reverse strategy
will be followed in the north and south where Coke sells more then Thums Up.

COCA-COLA VS PEPSI IN INDIA

Coca-Cola controlled the Indian market until 1977, when the Janta Party beat the Congress party
of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. To punish Coca-Cola's Principal bottler, a Congress party
stalwart and long live Gandhi supporter, the Janta government demanded that Coca-Cola transfer
in syrup formulae to an Indian subsidiary (Chakravarty, 43). Coca-Cola backed and withdrew
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from the country. India, now left without both Coca-Cola and Pepsi, became a protected market.
In the meantime, India's two target soft drink producers have gotten rich and lazy while
controlling 80% of the Indian market. These domestic producers have little incentive to expand
their plants or develop the country's potentially enormous market. Some analyst reason that the
Indian market may be more lucrative that the Chinese market, India has 850 million potential
customers, 150 millions of whom comprise the middle class, with disposable income to spend on
Cars, VCRs and Computers.

The Indian middle class is growing at 10% per year, to obtain the license for India, Pepsi had to
export $5 of locally made products for every $1 of materials it imported, and it had to agree to
help the Indian government to initiate a second agricultural revolution. Pepsi has also had to
take an Indian partners. In the end, all Parties involved seem to come out ahead. Pepsi gain
access to potentially enormous market, Indian bottlers will get to serve a market that is
expanding rapidly because of competition from abroad and will pay lower prices. Even before
the first bottle of Pepsi hit the shelves, local soft drink manufacturer increased the size of their
bottles by 25% without raising costs.

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BRAND LOYALTY

From a marketing strategy viewpoint, brand loyalty is a very important concept. Particularly in
today's low-growth and highly competitive market-place, retaining brand-loyal customers is
critical for survival; and it is often a more efficient strategy than attracting new customers.
Indeed, it is estimated that it costs the average company six times more to attract a new customer
than to hold a current one. Brand loyalty is often thought of as an internal commitment to
purchase and repurchase a particular brand. As a behaviour phenomenon brand loyalty is simply
repeat purchase behaviour.

Both cognitive and behaviour approaches to studying brand loyalty have value. We define brand
loyalty as repeat purchase intentions and behaviours. While the major focus of our discussion is
on brand loyalty as behaviour, we want to emphasize that cognitive processes strongly influence
the development and maintenance of this behaviour. Brand loyalty may be the result of extensive
cognitive activity and decision making. Brand-loyal behaviour may occur without the consumer
ever comparing alternative brands. Decisions have to be made about where and when to
purchase the product; some knowledge of the product and its availability must be activated from
memory; intentions to purchase ft and satisfaction influence the purchase behaviours. The market
for a particular brand could be analysed in terms of the number of consumers in each category,
and strategies could be developed to enhance

brand loyalty of particular groups.

❖ Undivided brand loyalty is, of course, an ideal. In some cases, consumers may
purchase only a single brand and forego purchase if it is not available.
❖ Brand loyalty with an occasional Swatch is likely to be more common, though.
Consumers may switch occasionally for a variety of reasons:
▪ their usual brand may be out of stock, a new brand may come on the market and tried
once, a competitive brand is offered at a special low price, or a different brand is
purchased for a special occasion.

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▪ Brand-loyalty switches are a competitive goal in low-growth or declining markets.

However, switching loyalty from one to another of the brands of the same firm can be
advantageous.
▪ Divided brand loyalty refers to consistent purchase of two or more brands.
▪ Brand indifference refers to purchases with no apparent repurchase pattern. This is the
opposite extreme from undivided brand loyalty. While we suspect total brand
indifference is not common, some consumers of some products may exhibit this pattern.
Developing a high degree of brand loyalty among consumers is an important goal of
marketing strategy. Yet the rate of usage by various consumers cannot be ignored. For
simplicity, we have divided the dimensions into four categories of consumers rather than
consider each dimension as a continuum.

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Fig.2.

The above figure shows that achieving brand-loyal consumers is most valuable when the
consumers are also heavy users. This figure could also be used as a strategic toot by plotting
consumers of both the firm's brands and competitive brands on the basis of brand loyalty and
usage rates. Depending on the location of consumers and whether they are loyal to the firm's
brand or a competitive one, several strategies might be useful;

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If the only profitable segment is the brand-loyal heavy user, focus on switching consumer loyalty
to the firm's brands.

❖ If there is a sufficient number of brand-loyal light users, focus on increasing their usage
of the firm's brand.
❖ If there is a sufficient number of brand-indifferent heavy users, attempt to make the
firm's brand name a salient attribute and/or develop a new relative advantage.
❖ If there is a sufficient number of brand-indifferent light users, attempt to make the firm's
brand name a salient attribute and increase usage of the firm's brand among consumers,
perhaps by finding a sustainable relative advantage.
❖ It is also important to plot consumers of competitive brands to develop appropriate
strategies. If a single competitor dominates the brand-loyal heavy- user market and has
too much market power to be overcome, then strategies may have to be focused on other
markets.

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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF
LITERATUR
E
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REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Coca Cola is currently the largest beverage company in the world having the widest spread of
consumers, over 200 countries with nearly two billion servings per day. This huge network
incorporates nearly one hundred and forty thousand company associates to distribute this huge
amount of drink. It is important to note that we are not talking about one particular drink, for
example Coca Cola or Diet Coca Cola but a whole range of beverages. In fact the Coca Cola
Company has developed bought and conglomerated more than three thousand five hundred
different drinks and has successfully or otherwise marketed and positioned these drinks in the
global market. (The Coca Cola Company, 2011a)

Having such a huge portfolio of products and ranging such a different spectrum of customers,
cultures and mind sets needs a very specific and energetic marketing approach both as a global
marketing strategy, narrowing down to a more focused cultural approach to specific country
particular marketing strategies. A strategy that works in one country could be irrelevant to
another. The first paper to be discussed is one which was published in 2005 in the ‘Thunderbird
International Business Review’ called ‘Coca Cola’s Marketing Challenges in Brazil: The
Tubainas War’. In this paper, the author discusses the marketing challenges of the Coca Cola
company as it combats its competitors, both its nemesis Pepsi but also hundreds of local brands
(called tubainas), some which are supported by the government through specific tax incentives,
thus effectively effecting the price.

Brazil is clearly an important strategic country since it corresponds to Coca Cola third largest
operation while having a significantly low consumption rate of only 144 bottles per day when
compared with the bench mark of the US with 462 bottles per year. To try and grow in the
emergent market, Coca Cola employed many different marketing strategies, from lowering the
price of its products in 1999 (from R$1.80 to R$1.25) to expand the number of brands in the
market. They also expanded on the particular type of drink that was more in line with the taste of
the Brazilian population. In fact focus was given to Kuat, a particular drink flavoured with
Guarana, a Brazilian popular Amazonian fruit. In fact the Brazilian subsidiary planted 200
hectares of this fruit to try and win back the Brazilian market. Eventually the ‘winning strategy’

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was a mix of price positioning, changing the bottling technology (from plastic going back to
glass).

To judge the effectiveness of the strategy that Coca Cola employed in Brazil, it is relevant to see
the current consumption of the drinks under the Coca Cola umbrella. According to Coca Cola’s
own figures, last year’s consumption for Brazil was 229 per capita, an increase from the 144 of
2005. This amounts to nearly 60% growth in five years, a mammoth growth in such a small time
period. Clearly more work could be done to reach the consumption of other high consumers that
hit the 675 per capita. It is interesting to note that in Malta, the Coca Cola consumption is the
second highest in the world with a staggering 606 bottles per capita ! (The Coca Cola Company,
2011d)

Continuing on the marketing aspect but now going over to the European side of the globe, more
specifically to Spain, one can appreciate the different marketing techniques employed to enter
into the Spanish market. In the paper ‘Brand communities on the internet – A Case Study of
Coca-Cola’s Spanish virtual community’, the authors Maria Sicilia and Mariola Palazon
discussed the ‘technological’ approach the Coca Cola took to penetrate this market. The
innovative approach was the use of virtual communities as an alternative strategy. The paper first
deals with what are virtual communities and how they function. The data that the authors
collected was from the period September 2006 to July 2007. The paper is offers a very
interesting exposition of this virtual reality, social networking concept when seeing the growth
from 2000 to 2010, the Spanish consumption grow from 251 to 284, a growth of 13% whereby
the overall European market grow by 20% and the Worldwide market grow by 33% ! (The Coca
Cola Company, 2011e)

The third paper discussed in this literature review deals with the strategic positioning of Coca
Cola in their Global Marketing Operation. This means that now we are going to zoom out from
the individual country and go to the less specific. The paper written in 2003 by Demetris Vrontis
and Iain Sharp is titled ‘The Strategic Positioning of Coca-Cola in their Global Marketing
Operation’ and was published in the Marketing Review journal. This paper examines how Coca-

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Colas has strategically positioned itself within the world’s softdrink marketing. The paper
focusing at the models that Coca Cola has utilized for such a ‘global take over’.

This paper explains that the Coca-Cola Company has adopted both a Differentiation and a Cost
Leadership Strategy. The use of a differentiation strategy is where the firm attempts to be diverse
from its competitors by adding something to its product that will provide a unique value to its
customers. There are also various ways a firm can differentiate depending on the industry it is in,
however the costs of this differentiation policy must be lower than the additional pricing the firm
can obtain. Differentiation for Coca-Cola is achieved through perceived superior quality product,
which surpasses their nearest rivals, and high brand image and recognition. The company has
also used their promotion and packaging as a means of further differentiation, for example, the
Coca-Cola bottle, which has become an internationally recognised symbol. (Vrontis and Sharp,
2003) These are basically the two overall methods that Coca Cola employees for its strategic
management and direction. With these measures, Coca Cola managed to diverse from its
competitors and create a product which provided a unique value to its customer. The products
generated were well incorporated into a comprehensive product portfolio which enabled world
penetration and the ability to hold on to this huge market share. It is clear that to manage a
corporation this big, involves challenges in Human Resource management which are not to be
disregarded. Specifically in this line of literature, the next paper will discuss aspects of Human
Resource management specifically with respect to mentoring and coaching. The paper is called
‘Case Study: Mentoring and Coaching as part of a human resource development strategy: an
example at Coca-Cola Foods’.

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CHAPTER III
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Primary Source:-

The primary data has been collected simultaneously along with the secondary data for meeting
the established objectives to provide in solution for problem identified in the study. It is the
source which collects the primary data through Questionnaire and record the raw data for further
analysis, Primary source is used by the face-to-face survey with the customers of the company

Secondary Source:-

Secondary data is data collected by someone other than the user. Secondary data analysis saves
time that would otherwise be spent collecting data and, particularly in the case of quantitative
data, provides larger and higher-quality databases that would be unfeasible for any individual
researcher to collect on their own. In addition, analysts of social and economic change consider
secondary data essential, since it is impossible to conduct a new survey that can adequately
capture past change and/or developments.

As a researcher I have scanned a lot of sources to get an access to secondary data. Secondary
data study has provided a insight and forms an outline for the core objectives established

The various source of secondary data used are :-

1. Internet

2. Magazines

3. Old data files of the research

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SWOT ANALYSIS

SWOT Analysis of Soft Drink Industry in relation to Coke

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LIMITATION OF STUDY
The main purpose of the study is get idea about the preference of the customer toward various
coca cola product. But there are certain Factors which affect this study they are as follow:-

❖ Since the sample procedure is judgmental, the sample selected may not be true
representation of the population
❖ Economic and market condition are very unpredicted (present and future)
❖ The study was confined to New Delhi only due to which the result cannot be
applied universally

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CHAPTER – IV
ANALYSIS &
INTERPRETATION
OF DATA

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ANALYSIS OF COCA COLA COMPANY

As the leading beverages company in the world, Coca Cola almost monopolizes the entire
carbonated beverages segment. Beside it, Coca Cola also maintain their reputation as the leading
company in the world using PEST Analysis so that Coca Cola can examine the macro-
environment of Coca Cola’s operations.

Political

When Coca Cola had decided to enter a country to distribute the products, Coca Cola was
monitoring the policies and regulations of each country. For the example, when entering
Moslems country such as Indonesia or Malaysia, Coca Cola followed the regulation by adding
“Halal” stamp in each Coca Cola’s products. In this case, Coca Cola has no political issues in
this matter.

Economic

Coca Cola also has low growth in the market for carbonated beverages (North America). The
market growth was 1% in 2004. For stimulating the growth, Coca Cola had spent high budget of
advertisement to endorse the customers.

Social

Nowadays, customers tend to change their lifestyle. Customers more aware about health
consciousness by reducing in drinking carbonated beverages to prevent diabetes or other
diseases. As a result, Coca Cola’s demand for carbonated beverages has decreased and the
revenues also decreased. Thus, Coca Cola diversify the products by adding production lines in
tea (Nestea), juices (Minute Maid), mineral water (Dasani and Ades), and sport drinks
(Powerade), and others.

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Technological

Because of the developing technology, Coca Cola has advanced technology in producing the
products. Then, Coca Cola made innovations by giving flavors to the Coke, such as Cherry
Coke, Diet Coke, Coca Cola Zero, Coke with Lime, and others. But, the customers still prefer the
original taste of traditional Coke; it can be seen by the high demands in traditional Coke.

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CHAPTER - V
CONCLUSION,
RECOMMENDATIO
NS &
SUGGESTIONS

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CONCLUSION

It was observed that Coca-Cola has been perceived quite positively as it has been projected.
People are aware of the Brand & Awareness of Coca-Cola is quite high in the market. When a
product is launched, avid Coke drinkers choose this soda over any other competitor simply
because it's a Coca-Cola product and they trust it. Although Coke has been into controversies,
people still prefer to stay loyal to the Brand with Coca-Cola being termed as a more popular
brand than Pepsi. Coca-Cola products would appear, on the shelf, to have the most expensive
range of soft drinks common to supermarkets, at almost double the cost of no name brands. This
can be for several reasons apart from just to cover the extra costs of promotions, for which no
name brands do without. When people buy Coca-Cola they are not just buying the beverage but
also the image that goes with it, therefore to have the price higher reiterates the fact that the
product is of a better quality than the rest and that the consumer is not cheap. In supermarkets
and convenience stores Coca-Cola has their own fridge which contains only their products.
There is little personal selling, but that is made up for in public relations and corporate image.
Coca-Cola sponsors a lot of events including sports and recreational activities.

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RECOMMENDATIONS OF STUDY

After completing our project I have concluded some recommendation for the Coca Cola
company, which are following.

❖ Coca Cola Company should try to emphasis more on providing their infrastructure in the
market to facilitate their customers.
❖ According to the survey, conducted by the international firm Pakistani people like little
bit sweeter Cola drink. So for this Coca Cola company should produce their product
according to the local demand.
❖ Marketing team should try to increase the availability of Coke in rural areas.
❖ They should also focus the old people.
❖ As Coca Cola is most purchased in general store so they should focus on small retailer.

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SUGGESTIONS

The suggestion made in this section are based on the market study conducted as part of “Coca
Cola”

1. Perform a detail demand survey at regular interval to know about the unique needs and
requirement of the customer.

2. The company should focus to bring some more flavours like health drinks and other low
calories offerings. Coca cola can also introduce some fruit based drinks, as t has enter the energy
drink arena with Burn.

3. The company must keep a watch on it primary competitors in market in order to be able to
compete with them.

4. The company should use a new attractive system of word of mouth advertisement to keep
alive the general awareness in the whole market.

5. The company should always be in a position to receive a continuous feedback and suggestion
from its customers as well as from the market and try to solve it without any delay to established
its own good credibility.

6. A strong watch should be kept on its distributer so that the goodwill of the brand doesn’t get
affected.

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